Labour market survey looks at cooks, chefs

Share

New research will look into how to attract and retain one of the hospitality industry’s most in-demand occupations — cooks and chefs — in support of the province’s growing tourism industry.

Cooks and chefs are forecast to be among the Top 10 most demanded occupations over the next five years, according to a Thompson-Okanagan labour market survey. Tourism employers are expected to be hardest hit by a growing labour shortage in the southern Interior.

The provincial government has allocated $140,160 to fund a comprehensive labour market information study to identify the skills required for in-demand cooks and chefs, and to outline effective strategies to train, attract and retain them.

The study will also look at issues related to wages, productivity, labour as a proportion of operational costs, gratuities and other non-wage benefits.

The research is considered beneficial not only to the tourism and hospitality sector, but it will be an important source of information across all sectors that employ cooks and chefs such as natural resources, health care and institutional employers.